This article explores how knowledge was created, acquired, organized, and transmitted in writing by scholars and intellectuals in the kingdom of Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, best documented for the thirteenth century BC, with special attention to the social, cultural and political backgrounds against which such literary activities were pursued.
Ce rapport présente les résultats préliminaires des travaux de terrain de la mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra – Ougarit qui se sont déroulés en 2009 et 2010. Sur le tell de Ras Shamra, l’étude de la ville d’Ougarit au Bronze récent s’est poursuivie sur plusieurs chantiers (« Rempart » et « Grand-rue » avec la fouille d’un puits en eau, « pont-barrage », étude du quartier à l’est du Palais royal), au travers de l’étude des techniques de construction (taille de la pierre), et par une nouvelle opération portant sur la Maison dite « de Yabninou ». Deux opérations (sondage dans le secteur du temple dit « de Dagan » et prospection géoradar) ont privilégié l’approche diachronique afin de mieux comprendre l’évolution urbanistique de la cité. Les travaux géoarchéologiques de la mission ont porté également sur le site voisin de Ras Ibn Hani afin de reconnaître l’évolution géomorphologique du tombolo au cours de l’Holocène. Au cours de ces deux campagnes, de nombreuses études portant sur le matériel archéologique et épigraphique des fouilles anciennes et récentes se sont par ailleurs poursuivies dans les musées de Damas, d’Alep et de Lattaquié.
The roles of Cyprus and of Cilicia as stations in the chain of transmission are the subject of chapter 12. Subsequent chapters are concerned with cultural contacts in Western Anatolia between the Hittites and Ahhiyawa (chapter 13) and the role of Troy and of Syro-Anatolian mortuary practices in the construction of historical memory (chapter 14). The final chapters (15-16) deal specifically with the Iliad. The prehistory of the Iliad is discussed based on the work of Gregory Nagy and the layers of Anatolian influence on the composition are surveyed. An appendix on the dactylic hexameter, a 100-page bibliography and extensive indices conclude the volume. This short review cannot possibly do justice to the volume because of its sheer magnitude, the abundance of themes, detailed discussions and wealth of original ideas. The book is highly readable, the transmission model suggested intriguing and the arguments are well articulated. Bachvarova's seemingly effortless bridging between disciplines as she uses a plethora of textual and archaeological evidence from various fields is enviable. She is to be congratulated for presenting the Hurro-Hittite literature, often treasures known only to specialists, to a wider audience, even if the present reviewer does not concur with some of her interpretations. The main flaw of the book, however, is the author's eagerness to fit as much evidence as possible into her overarching hypothesis, rendering some discussions tendentious: hypotheses often become facts, continuity is favoured over change, affinities over differences and influence is taken for granted. One of the main objectives set by Bachvarova was to animate further discussion on the interaction between ancient Near Eastern and Greek literatures. Her book will undoubtedly achieve that.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.